Competition and innovation in the financial sector:Evidence from the rise of FinTech start-ups

This paper provides new evidence on the effects of entry on incumbents’ incentives to innovate by examining the rise of FinTech innovations over the period 2000-2016. We employ machine learning algorithms to classify a large sample of patent applications into five types of FinTech innovations. We then show that greater competition from innovators outside the financial sector increases the probability that incumbent financial firms will innovate. Our identification strategy exploits the variation over time in the share of FinTech patent applications by non-financial start-ups relative to incumbent financial firms, as a proxy for competitive pressures from outside the financial industry. We also find that this increased competition results in a higher number of FinTech patent applications by financial incumbents relative to non-financial ones, especially when the FinTech innovations are more important, as proxied by the number of their future patent citations.Irish Research CouncilOpen Access funding provided by the IReL ConsortiumTo check citing and date details in 6

Competition and Innovation in the Financial Sector: Evidence from the Rise of FinTech Start-ups

We provide new evidence on the effects of competition on incumbents' innovative behavior by examining the rise of FinTech start-ups over the period 2000-2016. We employ machine learning techniques to classify a large global sample of patent applications into five FinTech categories. We exploit the variation in the share of FinTech patent applications by non-financial startups to incumbent financial firms to measure competitive pressures from outside the financial industry. We show that higher competitive pressures from non-financial start-ups increases the probability that financial incumbents innovate. Moreover, competition from start-ups results in a higher number of FinTech patent applications by financial incumbents as compared to non-financial firms, especially when the innovations of FinTech start-ups are more important, as proxied by future patent citations count

Physiological alteration and anaesthetic drugs effects on intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring procedures

Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IOM) and especially motor evoked potentials represents an important tool in the evaluation of the nervous system integrity and particularly of the motor tracts. A real and correct registration of the potentials with a proper interpretation of the modification is mandatory for an optimal outcome in eloquent areas, tumours, brainstem and medullary lesions. For all this to happen a suitable anaesthetic protocol must be used. Even though there is a large spectrum of anaesthetic agents at our disposal it is imperative to know their effect on the IOM signals recordings and the fact that some of them are dose-dependent. Drugs effects and physiological changes produced intraoperatively must be corrected before a shift in the direction of the surgical lesion resection it is taken. We present an overview of the action of the anaesthetic agents, most used protocols and the physiological alteration encountered in the operative theatre

HLA Gene Polymorphisms in Romanian Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Background and Objectives. Numerous genome-wide association studies have highlighted that chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a lymphoproliferative disorder with an important genetic component. An important number of genes have been implicated in CLL etiology, with some of the most important being human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes. The aim of this study was to analyze the association of CLL with certain HLA alleles in the Romanian population and to compare our results with previous findings. Materials and Methods. This study included 66 patients with CLL, diagnosed between 2020 and 2022, and 100 healthy controls. HLA class I and class II genes (HLA-A/B/C, HLA-DQA1/DQB1/DPA1/DPB1, and HLA-DRB1/3/4/5) were investigated using next-generation sequencing technology. Results. Several HLA alleles were strongly associated with CLL. The most important finding was that HLA-DRB1∗04:02:01 (p=0.001, OR = 1.05) and HLA-DRB3∗02:01:01 (p=0.009, OR = 1.03) have a predisposing role in CLL development. Moreover, we identified that HLA-A∗24:02:01 0.01 (p=0.01, OR = 0.38), HLA-DQA1∗05:05:01 (p=0.01, OR = 0.56), HLA-DQB1∗03:02:01 (p=0.03, OR = 0.40), and HLA-DRB4∗01:03:01 (p=0.03, OR = 0.54 alleles have protective roles. Correlations between HLA expression and gender showed that women had a higher expression of protective HLA alleles when compared to men. Conclusions. Our data are the first to indicate that in Romanian patients with CLL, the HLA-A∗24:02:01 and HLA-DQA1∗05:05:01 alleles have a protective role against CLL development, whereas HLA-DRB1∗04:02:01 and HLA-DRB3∗02:01:01alleles are positively associated with CLL

10 PW Peak Power Laser at the Extreme Light Infrastructure Nuclear Physics – status updates

We have shown, for the first time in the world, the production of 10 PW peak power laser pulses and their propagation to an experimental area at the Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP). We are also steadily running the laser system for experimental campaigns, increasing the output power levels delivered for experiments and fine-tuning the parameters of the laser pulses, the operational procedures, and the operational teams. During our presentation, we will show the laser developments at ELI-NP emphasizing the 10 PW peak power demonstrations and the latest results for the HPLS beam delivery